Ilya Yashin arrested on felony charges

Opposition politician Ilya Yashin, the municipal deputy for Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district, has been arrested for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian military, Mediazona reported. A judge at Moscow's Basmanny District Court granted prosecutors’ request for Yashin to be put in a remand prison until September 12.

The Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Yashin on July 12 in response to a YouTube livestream in which Yashin talked about Russian troops killing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. Officers conducted a search of his home that night after bringing Yashin there from the detention center where he had been serving a 15-day sentence for allegedly disobeying police. After the search, Yashin was taken to a remand prison.

On July 13, Yashin was indicted for distributing “fake news about the army on the basis of political hatred.”

• Ilya Yashin was one of the only opposition politicians to have remained in Russia since the start of the war against Ukraine.
• In May, the Russian authorities filed four administrative offense reports against Yashin for “discrediting” the army.
• Two other deputies from the Krasnoselsky district have been charged with spreading “fake news” about the army: Alexey Gorinov and Yelena Kotenochkina. On July 8, Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison. Kotenochkina has left Russia.